2015, the Year of Adventure

On Friday, 9 January 2015 I made my way through snow, ice and fog to downtown Colorado Springs. I had some issues doing my online banking.

I worked for several hours in the morning to get everything right, correct, all the T’s crossed, I’s dotted, signatures, dates and so forth.

But, the bank, God love ’em, screwed me again. Every time I’ve tried to get the accounts right, move money and keep things in an organized fashion, something weird happens. Friday, it was the final Wire Transfer I needed to make to complete the purchase of a sailboat.

Not just any sailboat, the very boat my wife and I have dreamed about for the last six years. In fact, she’s exactly the boat that has been envisioned by us both in waking daydreams and long sails in the Caribbean in our night dreams.

The old name of the boat isn’t really important any more. She’s lived her last year sitting on the hard in a marina in New York and therefore whatever she was before has been washed away by the tides. We knew her name a few weeks ago, right after I went up for the survey. JoAnne and I had discussed many things, but the name was not one of them.

In fact, as the blog is called we knew years ago we would call the boat “Winds of Time”.

When I returned from the survey I was talking to her about something and she said something about “going on an adventure”. JoAnne loves to say that when we get in the Jeep or Truck to go across country or explore something. In fact, she usually waits until the car is in drive and rolling down the hill from our home to say, “We’re on an ADVENTURE! YAY!” — or words to that effect. It’s always cute and makes me laugh.

So the thought occurred to be after seeing the boat in person that her real name had come out and not only was it NOT going to be “Winds”.

Of course, yesterday was proving to be an adventure in and of itself. Bad weather, ice, snow, fog, cold and the bank couldn’t help me fix the problem. Thus I left work a bit early, jumped in my truck and set off to slide my way from the Air Force Base to home to grab a check book, and then slide my way south and west to downtown to find the bank. Ended up parking three blocks away from the branch office (this is a large investment bank and of course, there is only one branch here; and I’m lucky it is, otherwise I’d be driving to Denver, or Kansas City or some such place).

After arriving there, the young man that helps me with account information met me in the lobby and proceeded to help me get the wire forms together and eventually, late last night I received word from the broker in Annapolis that everything was finished. The official close date is Tuesday. Monday though, we will close as everything is in place.

USCG documentation is being worked for me by a nice lady in West Virginia. The Delaware Registration will be worked in a few days when the sale is officially complete (and the lady in WV sends me the MD title to get to MD — yeah, even the paperwork has been an ADVENTURE).

Today I awaken, a few dollars poorer, but richer for a beautiful sailing vessel.

The bank got things together. I got things together. The broker got things together. The seller got things together (in fact today he delivers a pallet load of equipment to a storage locker for me, spare parts and so forth). In fact, everything finally came together late last night.

The picture is from a few years back, with the previous owners I believe, sailing down the Hudson River. Yep, that’s the Empire State building in the background. With a bit of luck in a few months, we’ll add our own images as we sail past Lady Liberty further down river.

Picture of the interior, looking forward. That’s a wood pellet stove on the starboard side, a kerosene lantern in the port foreground. The wood is gorgeous. The insides need a good “clean”, dusting, wiping down and perhaps some oil for some of the wood. The companionway ladder needs a bit of varnish. Most all of the teak on the outside needs work.

The bilge needs a good pressure wash, a float switch needs replacement and the majority of the running rigging, in particular the halyards should be changed out. The sails need some work, but eventually we will replace them with a new set.

The standing rigging is in good shape – but I need to get a rigger to the top to do a close up inspection of the head (change lights, and a few minor things).

Obviously things like the zincs need to be replaced, some hose clamps changed out and a couple of lights and switches are broken.

All minor maintenance issues for me.

It was negative 10 degrees when we did the survey. The boat was on the hard. We really couldn’t run the engine up but my investigation with the marina staff says the boat ran fine when they put her on land and winterized the vessel. So, all that remains is filters, oil change, some fresh diesel to make her run.

The bottom should be painted and the boot stripe put back on properly. (The bottom has been soda blasted and was smooth, no blisters and the hull is very sound).

All in all the previous owner took decent care of her. He was ready to move on (and I guess away from sailing), and we’ll be ready to move aboard and travel as soon as we sell the house this spring.

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One thought on “2015, the Year of Adventure”

What a beauty! Buying a boat is a roller coaster of experiences from excitement to disappointment and despair. Glad your dream is coming true after the health issues that held you up for a while. We are dealing with our own here, albeit not as serious as you did. Still, in middle age, you cannot take your health and the time you have left on the planet for granted. Here’s to continuing to really LIVE until we’re done.